A female patient in her late 20s came in with heavy periods. She'd had heavy periods for as long as she could remember, but they'd gotten worse after having her 2 children. She bled approximately 300 mL/month (with normal being 10-80mL) since having her last child.
She'd been to her biomedical doctor and it was found that she wasn't anemic (which surprised the doctor) and that her thyroid function was normal. Her doctor could find no other causes for the abnormal bleeding.
We used acupuncture and Chinese herbal formulas to stem the flow, and treat her underlying Qi deficiency. Her energy levels had risen some (she'd been experiencing extreme fatigue), but found no changes after 9 months of treatment, trying many different formulas and acupuncture treatments.
What I have found when patients don't seem to respond to Chinese medicine is that there is often some sort of underlying nutritional deficiency occurring. So we started looking into what sorts of nutritional deficiencies may be present.
This patient also has a gluten intolerance and has been gluten-free for 7 years. Upon doing some research into Celiac disease, I found that many nutritional deficiencies are common because of the changes that occur in the bowels in Celiac Disease. Most common are the fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A and K.
We started by supplementing with vitamin K because of it's role in clotting, but after 2 months found only minimal changes in her flow amounts.
Next we tried supplementing with vitamin A. After only one month, her flow has decreased by approximately half. We looked into the other symptoms of vitamin A deficiency and found that she has experienced many of those as well!
Food IS medicine. Unfortunately for this patient, because of an absorptive issue, even eating a healthy diet wasn't helping to rectify her health complaint.
She'd been to her biomedical doctor and it was found that she wasn't anemic (which surprised the doctor) and that her thyroid function was normal. Her doctor could find no other causes for the abnormal bleeding.
We used acupuncture and Chinese herbal formulas to stem the flow, and treat her underlying Qi deficiency. Her energy levels had risen some (she'd been experiencing extreme fatigue), but found no changes after 9 months of treatment, trying many different formulas and acupuncture treatments.
What I have found when patients don't seem to respond to Chinese medicine is that there is often some sort of underlying nutritional deficiency occurring. So we started looking into what sorts of nutritional deficiencies may be present.
This patient also has a gluten intolerance and has been gluten-free for 7 years. Upon doing some research into Celiac disease, I found that many nutritional deficiencies are common because of the changes that occur in the bowels in Celiac Disease. Most common are the fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A and K.
We started by supplementing with vitamin K because of it's role in clotting, but after 2 months found only minimal changes in her flow amounts.
Next we tried supplementing with vitamin A. After only one month, her flow has decreased by approximately half. We looked into the other symptoms of vitamin A deficiency and found that she has experienced many of those as well!
Food IS medicine. Unfortunately for this patient, because of an absorptive issue, even eating a healthy diet wasn't helping to rectify her health complaint.
